Categories
Economics

The Fed: Chairmen More Powerful Than Presidents

This is the second article in a series about the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed has significant influence over much of the U.S. economy, which in turn impacts economic growth and government policies worldwide. Thus, Jeremy Powell, current chairman of the Fed, is arguably the most powerful man in the world — in some ways […]

Categories
Economics

The Fed: What is the Federal Reserve System?

In recent years, the news has been filled with stories about the impending collapses of the banking system. The Federal Reserve (the Fed) influences U.S. interest rates. Since the U.S. dollar is the global reserve currency, this means that the Fed also influences the level of interest rates around the world. As a result, Fed […]

Categories
Economics

Monopoly Money

If you were playing Monopoly, Quantitative Easing would be the equivalent of helping yourself to a $100 note every time you rolled the dice and never having to pay it back (Source: Flickr) CENTRAL banks continue to finance government spending by easing monetary policy in order to help economies get back to “potential output”. (It […]

Categories
Economics

Quantitative Easing

Printing money is the last refuge of failed economic empires and banana republics QUANTITATIVE EASING is a monetary policy tool sometimes employed by central banks to stimulate the economy when conventional monetary policy becomes ineffective. To stimulate the economy, the central bank normally carries out expansionary monetary policy by lowering short-term interest rates through the […]